Chapter 55: Change Posture—Try Again

Perhaps the reality fell far short of his expectations, so when Lin Mo saw the blue treasure on the panel, he felt not a hint of joy.

To be honest, the blue treasure wasn’t bad at all—it still added 20 points, bringing his total score together with the Immortal Exam’s mystery realm to…

“Another 520?”

Lin Mo twitched his lips, though a thread of resentment lingered in his mood.

After several more days of losing 1 point in the realm, his current luck value had reached 45 points—nearly half of what a Grade-Yellow luck cultivator typically possesses.

And after spending so much time just to scrape out a perfect score…

Sigh.

He helplessly shook his head, just as he was about to confirm and claim his reward, when a prompt suddenly floated into view:

【Would you like to use Merit Points to refresh your reward?】

Lin Mo’s pupils slowly dilated as he murmured, “So you can even do this?”

The function of 【Merit Points】 had far exceeded his imagination.

They could serve as cultivation experience, boost spell proficiency, and even condense extremely rare luck points.

Now, they could also refresh the mystery realm’s reward?

It was like a scratch card’s “try again” feature.

Amid his astonishment, Lin Mo suddenly recalled he’d only obtained the 【Merit Wooden Fish】 a little over a month ago.

During that time, he’d studied this “electronic wooden fish” over a hundred times, convinced he understood its full function.

But now it seemed the 【Merit Wooden Fish】 still had many unexplored abilities.

“Fine, fine, fine—let’s try again!”

Lin Mo smiled, reaching out to directly allocate Merit Points to the panel:

【Ding! You’ve invested 100 Merit Points into the reward panel. Re-calculating reward, please wait…】

【Ding! Congratulations, examinee! You’ve obtained: Grade-2 Low-tier Spell “Cloud Gathering Scripture,” +15 bonus points】

Lin Mo: “…”

For some reason, he suddenly felt cheated.

You said you were a scratch card—and you really are!?

Lin Mo gritted his teeth, glanced at the hundreds of Merit Points accumulated during the last battle interval, and stubbornly tried again—

【Ding! You’ve invested 100 Merit Points into the reward panel. Re-calculating reward, please wait…】

【Ding! Congratulations, examinee! You’ve obtained: 3x Century-Old Xuanhuang, +10 bonus points】

Green-rank, even fewer points…

“Fine, fine, fine—you want to play like this, huh!”

Lin Mo stared fixedly at the panel: “I refuse to believe it—I’ll crack an Immortal Scripture today, no matter what!”

Saying this, he continuously deducted 1 point to gain Merit Points while pouring more into the reward panel.

Outside the realm’s entrance, green light flickered, then white, then blue…

The shifting colors illuminated Lin Mo’s face, deepening the ambiguity of his expression.

…

…

Three days later—

A purple glow struck Lin Mo’s face, followed immediately by a system alert:

【Ding! You’ve invested 100 Merit Points into the reward panel. Re-calculating reward, please wait…】

【Ding! Congratulations, examinee! You’ve obtained: Spirit Artifact “Yuting Ding,” +50 bonus points】

“Finally! Purple!”

Lin Mo’s eyes glowed red as he stared at the purple glow on the panel.

Over three days, he’d spent 4,500 Merit Points, trying 45 times—finally, one purple reward… but…

“It’s not a Foundation Establishment Dao Art.”

Lin Mo gazed at the spirit artifact on the panel, his expression torn.

To abandon it felt like a waste.

Yet the importance of a Foundation Establishment Dao Art was undeniable—otherwise, Chu Wange, the Heaven-Luck cultivator, wouldn’t have mentioned it so often.

Besides, this still felt far from the “Immortal Scripture” he truly wanted.

“No! Try again!”

Still unwilling to give up, he muttered with bloodshot eyes:

“I refuse to believe it—next time, I’ll hit it! Wait… I’ll change my posture, improve my odds…”

…

…

Three more days later—

Another purple glow lit up the cave entrance, and the Heavenly Dao system’s voice echoed again:

【Ding! Congratulations, examinee! You’ve obtained: Grade-2 Spirit-tier Dao Art “Heavenly Steel Five Thunder Scripture,” +60 bonus points】

A Foundation Establishment Dao Art!

When Lin Mo saw the words “Spirit-tier Dao Art,” faint light flickered in his dark, bloodshot eyes—but then he fell silent again.

In truth, this wasn’t his first time obtaining a Foundation Establishment Dao Art.

But previous ones had been High-grade to Rare-grade—none matched the quality of this purple-glowing Spirit-tier Dao Art.

“Heavenly Steel Five Thunder Scripture…”

Just the name sounded majestic.

Lin Mo’s heart stirred; his finger hovered between confirm and cancel, undecided.

This was the most agonizing choice yet—two purple treasures had appeared in the past two days, but neither surpassed the first Spirit Artifact, Yuting Ding, so he’d ignored them.

Though he didn’t yet know what “Spirit-tier” meant, a purple-rank Foundation Establishment Dao Art—according to Chu Wange’s words—must rank among the top-tier rewards in past Heavenly Dao Immortal Exams.

Most crucially, his backpack’s food, including the expired 【Grain-Grain Bigu Pill (White)】, had been completely consumed.

Now he was truly out of provisions.

“No, I still have the ‘Rain Spreading Scripture’—drinking water alone isn’t fatal…”

He muttered inwardly.

Ancient cultivators were said to survive solely on Immortal Dew.

Even if he drank only water infused with a trace of spiritual energy, holding out for another ten or twenty days wouldn’t be impossible.

Moreover, his luck value, after days of accumulating Merit Points, had surged past 50 to 53 points.

Judging by the probability of purple rewards these past days, he wasn’t without a chance of obtaining an even higher-tier realm treasure.

“I can do it. I can!”

Lin Mo chanted to himself, his bloodshot eyes brightening again, fists clenched, his Dao heart growing firmer:

“Change posture—try again!”

…

…

Five days later, a blinding orange light erupted, illuminating the entire cave entrance.

Lin Mo finally heard the heavenly system’s sweetest alert:

【Ding! Congratulations, examinee! You’ve obtained: Immortal-tier Dao Art “Five Spirit Immortal Scripture (Foundation Establishment Chapter),” +150 bonus points】

Before he could even smile, another orange flash blinded him.

【Ding! Congratulations, examinee! You’ve obtained: True Ultimate Flame (Heaven-tier), +100 bonus points】

Lin Mo’s eyes widened as he stared at the twin orange glows, frozen in stunned silence—then he finally reacted:

“This… is a double yolk!”

…

…

On the Ascension Platform.

“I can’t hold it anymore, Medic! Do you still have the Digestion Pills? One more—I’ll pay eight hundred!”

An Immortal examinee clutched his stomach, face pale green, speaking to someone beside him.

“It’s Digestive Pill. And prices are now 20% off.”

“Damn it, you’re price-gouging!”

“Take it or leave it—aren’t there simple latrines built by Immortal Masters over there? Just queue up.”

“I have a cleanliness fetish… fine, give me one more.”

“Total: twelve hundred.”

The examinee, lips white, paid with a Spirit Device, swallowed the Digestive Pill with hatred, then glared furiously at the Immortal Rankings above.

The Immortal Rankings now listed only Lin Mo—this was why the Immortal Exam had yet to conclude.

“When will that damn Lin Mo finally come out!?”

He couldn’t help muttering again: “He didn’t die in there, did he?”

In truth, Lin Mo wasn’t the only one others resented—how many around him hadn’t grown bitter toward this Immortal examinee who’d hidden in the realm like a turtle?

After all, they’d been waiting on the Ascension Platform for nearly half a month.

If not for the Immortal Examination, who would want to stay here waiting for him!

“Keep your voice down— if that one hears you, it’ll be trouble.”

The “Medicine Seller” made a shushing gesture toward him.

The Immortal Examination candidate instinctively fell silent, his gaze turning to Chu Wange not far away.

Of everyone here, she was likely the only one who looked forward to Lin Mo emerging from the secret realm.

Even the two great ones from the Dao Academy who had been waiting nearby had frowned more than once.

Clearly, the two were deeply dissatisfied with Lin Mo’s failure to appear.

The Immortal Examination candidate scowled and spat to the side, then raised his head to stare at the Immortal List and said:

“I say, that guy Lin Mo probably already died in...”

“SHHHH!!!”

As he spoke, a beam of golden light shot straight down from the Immortal List, blinding his eyes instantly.

He rubbed his eyes, barely adjusted to the glare, when suddenly—“SHHH!”—another golden beam crashed down from the dome.

“What the hell is going on?”

He couldn’t help cursing; it took ages before his vision slowly returned to normal.

When he finally lowered his gaze, confused, he noticed the “Medicine Seller” staring blankly ahead, pointing with one finger—he followed the direction of that finger.

Among the crowd not far away, a handsome youth stood atop the Ascension Platform, radiating dazzling golden light; countless eyes turned toward him in shock.

The top-ranked female prodigy of the Immortal List, upon seeing him, stepped forward rapidly, closing the distance in an instant; her face, always as calm as still water, broke into a faint smile as she spoke:

“You’re out, Lin Mo.”